Antique Wooden Boats and Bill Muncey

Thursday, June 13, Day 52

In the morning, these two guys came rolling into the campground with their boat.  They kept looking at our camper, both of them puffing away prodigiously on their cigarettes.  I thought they had reserved our campsite, since they seemed to be eyeing it, and then their watches.  Check out is 11:00 am and it was 9:30.  John finally talked to them, and they had driven in from Pennsylvania for an annual outing, fishing for northern pike.  They were not waiting for our campsite.  Rather, they were trying to decide whether to just go fishing, or set up their campsite first. The reason for the hesitation --- rain in the forecast. 

One of the things they talked about were the extra fees they had to pay for being from out of state, i.e. $5.  And then it's another $5 each time they launch the boat.  However, in their nine years of coming here they had made friends with the woman at the boat launch.  "Don't you have family in Clayton?" she asks. "I knowed somebody up that way" was the reply.  "Well, then OK, it's free."

I had a problem with them grousing about the out of state $5 fee, since both of them were going through cigarettes like mad, at about $45 per carton.  However, John says it's just the idea of being nickled and dimed. 

We drove into Clayton to the Antique Boat Museum.  This was one of Marcie's suggestions.  It was fabulous!

One of the exhibits as about voyages by canoe taken by individual sailors. Here's an example of one such trip.

One man, who had taken a trip with his son, finally reached the limits of his "extreme" canoing, when he lost the tips of his fingers. I reallly liked his answer on why he did it.




It was amazing to see the different configurations of canoes and the improvements made over the years.  And here I thought a canoe was a canoe.

This is John's favorite - the one he remembers using, built by the Old Town Canoe Company.

I had an idea of what I thought this was, but it turns out, it was for something completely different. Guess it really wouldn't have been comfortable sitting, even for guys! 

It was used around your shoulders to portage the canoe. 

There were many boat displays, too numerous to mention, but if you want, John can fill you in.  I just had to talk about Bill Muncey , though.  He drove a hydroplane, and there were many races on the lake where I grew up.  Bill Muncey and his boat, Miss Thriftway were the best!  And when he came to give a talk at our school, he was the first "celebrity" I had ever seen.  I'll never forget it.  I saw him several times after that, and the thrill was always the same.

I guess I lost track of him.  After all, it was in the 1950's that I saw him compete, and he continued to race until being killed in 1981.

One of the boats that won the most races was the Dixie.  There were several versions, because they mentioned a Dixie IV.

There was so much to enjoy at this museum.  If you have any interest in boating, this is a must see!